Know your content footprint

In this talk, I shed some light on the inevitable ecological price of digital content, and how to. reduce the negative impact.

Transcript

1. Neos Con 2025 Carsten Windler Know your content footprint Sustainable publishing in a digital world
3. Green IT
4. Carsten Windler Software Engineer, Author, Speaker, Green IT Enthusiast Director of Platform @ Plan A linkedin.com/in/cwindler carsten@carstenwindler.de
5. 1. Why websites cause emissions Why software causes emissions Photo by Jas Min on Unsplash
7. Photo by Matthias Heyde
8. https://app.electricitymaps.com/
9. https://app.electricitymaps.com/
11. 62 million tonnes electronic waste in 2022
12. 100g 620.000.000.000 chocolate bars
13. ~ 911,000 football fields of chocolate bars ~ 2.5x Luxembourg
15. CARBON FOOTPRINT OF ICT* * pre-AI hype ~4%
16. How to measure emissions Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán
17. https://www.websitecarbon.com/
18. 20 page visits 100g
19. https://www.semrush.com/website/cnn.com/overview/ for May 2025 434,000,000 monthly visits ?
20. https://www.semrush.com/website/cnn.com/overview/ for May 2025 434,000,000 monthly visits
21. 434,000,000 monthly visits* x 5 gCO2 eq x 12 ~ 26,000 mtCO2 eq per year ~ 6,000 gasoline-powered cars driven for one year** ~ 382 football fields of chocolate bars ** https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator * https://www.semrush.com/website/cnn.com/overview/ for May 2025
23. Average Emissions per Page View (gCO2 eq) = ([(OPDC × (1 - Green Hosting Factor) + EMDC ) + (OPN + EMN ) + (OPUD + EMUD )] × New Visitor Ratio) + ([(OPDC × (1 - Green Hosting Factor) + EMDC ) + (OPN + EMN ) + (OPUD + EMUD )] × Return Visitor Ratio × (1 - Data Cache Ratio)) The Sustainable Web Design Model https://sustainablewebdesign.org/estimating-digital-emissions/ Data Transfer × EF × Carbon Intensity = Emissions
25. ? neos.io
26. https://docs.green-coding.io/
27. https://greenframe.io/
28. https://www.cloudcarbonfootprint.org/
29. How to reduce emissions
31. Better performance → fewer emissions Optimize caching DOM size SVGs instead bitmaps Minify HTML/CSS/JavaScript Fewer requests No autoplay videos No or fewer Ads No background videos Code splitting Lazy loading Use native functionality Optimize images Fonts Compression
34. Assets • Use less • Are images necessary? • Lazy loading • Videos & Ads • No autoplay • No background videos • Less Ads :-)
35. Design • Mobile first • Typography vs. images • Less animations • Use known patterns • Avoid dark patterns
36. https://ecograder.com
37. https://ecograder.com
38. https://ecograder.com
40. Code efficiency 1. Algorithms and Big-O 2. Database optimization 3. Careful caching 4. Prefer native functions 5. Choose frameworks / libraries / packages wisely 6. Code profiling & optimization
41. Prefer native functions 7.7x faster
43. • Cloud infrastructure optimization • Utilize CDN/Edge Caching • Green Hosting Database • app.greenweb.org/directory/ • Circular economy • Refurbished hardware Infrastructure & Hosting
47. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enhance-your-writing-with-ai-in-notepad-4088b954-c97b-46dc-813f-959be01746d5
48. https://unsplash.com/photos/black-and-silver-claw-hammer-WLNkAHCjYOw
49. https://docs.neos.io/guide/essentials/content-repository Neos installation: • 16,000+ files • 200+ MB • 1 database
50. Do I really need a CMS?
51. DBAL? CSV export 500,000 lines
52. Other benefits of sustainable software Photo by AS Photography
53. ROI of Decarbonization
54. Right Sizing Turn off unused resources Data compression and retention Code performance Autoscaling Carbon awareness Energy- efficient chipsets Product Design Saving Plans Reserved Instances GreenOps FinOps Spot Instances Cost reduction Win-win
55. • User Experience • Accessibility • Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz � • Higher revenue • Better conversion • Broader user base • Employee retention Other benefits
57. Getting active is the best remedy against helplessness. Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen “
58. Thank you!
59. Carsten Windler Software Engineer, Author, Speaker, Green IT Enthusiast Director of Platform @ Plan A linkedin.com/in/cwindler carsten@carstenwindler.de
60. Resources Photo by Engin Akyurt
61. https://w3c.github.io/sustyweb/
62. https://github.com/github/GreenSoftwareDirectory GitHub Green IT Resources
63. My linklist :-) github.com/carstenwindler/green-it
64. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/green-coding-grundlagen